2.     Research is the key. Take the time to research covers, interior design, editors, book prices in  your genre and fulfillment options.  The more research you do, the less you have to spend for market-level quality books.

3.     Successful authors spend more time on their books after they publish than before they publish. Marketing and promoting a successful book takes many more hours than writing a successful book.

4.     You don’t need your books in a bookstore to be successful. If you are turned down by your local bookstore or a national chain, you can STILL sell a LOT of books and be very successful online. Don’t give up!

5.     Time spent online promoting your book CAN be a huge waste of time. Make sure you are participating in discussion forums for your READERS, not other authors.  If you write a book about the history of pantyhose, hang out on pantyhose sites, not author and book sites.

We work with people every day to show them how to publish a book. Don’t feel too overwhelmed by the process. It’s a lot of work and can also be a ton of fun!

Check out our advice on the importance of good editing for self publishers here

The Cadence Group works with our clients every day helping them set up their Amazon accounts and book pages. We know the ins and outs of setting up your own Amazon account and the bottom line benefits of managing your own Amazon stock and shipments.  Setting up an Amazon account can be achieved by these simple steps:

• Creating an Amazon Account – including ordering and payment information
• Setting up for your book page
• Uploading your cover
• Setting up your book details (price, description, trim size, etc.)

That’s it. You will be listed as the publisher AND you will get all of the money and credit that any other publisher on Amazon gets!

But the work doesn’t stop there. Did you know that once your book is available on Amazon there are a number of key things you can do to optimize your page? These can include Search Inside, setting up an Author page, tagging your book with key words, uploading a book trailer and linking your blog through to your Amazon page. There are also key ways to connect your book on Amazon to other bestselling books.

And no….you’re STILL not done! Once your book is properly set up on Amazon, it’s important to consider reviews. And yes, we understand that your friends and family will help you out with reviews, but the Amazon buyer is now savvier than ever. They notice if reviewers are one-timers on a specific book page. They also notice if all the reviewers are located in and around your hometown.  It’s important to get your book reviewed by impartial people – those that don’t know you and can provide honest feedback about your book. One of the key ways to do this is to get your book reviewed by Top Amazon reviewers. These are people ranked by Amazon and recognized by readers as impartial reviewers.

Working with Amazon, figuring out Amazon book sales options, securing Amazon reviews and, don’t forget, doing it all for your Amazon Kindle book as well can be overwhelming for people. But, it is incredibly important to your book’s success to not only be on Amazon but to also be set up and optimized in a way that consumers can find your book in the first couple of pages when searching by key word or category. It’s also important to legitimize your book as much as possible with strong and impartial reviews.

The Cadence Group offers a number of programs designed to help authors with Amazon. We’d love to have you hire us to help you out! But whether you hire us, hire someone else, or do it yourself, just remember that the majority of small press and/or self-published books sales go through Amazon.

Make sure your book is positioned for success!

For more information, please check out our Amazon book programs

Other great blogs about Amazon: Why is everyone selling my book except me?

Funny thing about that book is that I almost didn’t buy it. And, in fact, I ignored it for several months even though it was recommended to me by Amazon over and over again.

Why? The reviews were terrible.  And I mean terrible. And they were all about the typos. Review after review said that the book had potential, but that it needed an edit. Review after review ripped the author to shreds for a book that was impossible to read and filled with typos.

That was enough for me. I hate to try to read a book filled with typos. It ruins my day. So I checked Author X off my reading list and moved on.

But books by Author X have continued lurking on my Amazon recommends home page and just last week I popped by one of his book pages to see if there were new reviews. There were. Two new reviews. Both were posted within the past week or two. Both reviews were positive, said the story was fantastic, and specifically mentioned that the author must have fixed the typos.

Sure enough, when I scrolled up the page, there was a new line under book description on Amazon ****Updated****. I clicked over to another book by Author X and saw **New Edition**. I still wasn’t ready to buy (did I mention that I hate typos?). But I was ready to borrow through my Prime account. I’m glad that I did.

The book I read had one typo that I saw. That’s better than most books published by major publishers! It was so good, I just bought, and downloaded, Author X’s entire backlist this afternoon.

The good news is that Author X listened to his reviewers and fixed his books. The bad news is that he published them in the first place with so many errors.

The truth of the matter is, there is no way to measure the missed sales opportunities created by his first edition(s). And, quite frankly, even if you visit his book page today, and read through the reviews, you might discard Author X’s books because he has so many poor reviews. Readers may pay more attention to those than taking the time to realize that he’s fixed the problem.

And, yes, I did some digging, Author X is self-published. Although you might remember this post I wrote about a bestselling author and the typos I found in her book published by a major publisher. Regardless of the path your book takes to publication, editing matters.

Readers do care. If you cut corners, they’ll talk about it. If they’re talking about it, you’re losing sales.

“Where did these come from?” she asks.  Her next question was how to hire a lawyer to stop the sale of her book from which she gets no recompense.

After phone-pouring her a stiff drink, I explained where they came from and why there is nothing she can do about it.

First off, several of the sites that list a book do not actually HAVE the book.  Computer bots have scurried around the book websites and grabbed new book information as it is released. The bots then send the book info back to their host computers who post the book automatically. I love seeing one of my clients $16.95 books on sale for $203.50 at a used book site.

But other than that, the books you see ARE real.

Smart authors print pre-release copies of their books, Advance Reading Copies or actual book copies, to send to reviewers and jounalists during the early months of a book’s marketing campaign.  Dozens or even hundreds of copies of these books are sent out to reviewers and editors asking for some attention.

We here at the Cadence Group always sticker the books we send out with bright orange stickers stating that the books are for review only and not for resale.  But even with those stickers, the books always show up for sale on Amazon, B&N, and other used book outlets. It is the reality of the review world.

Once a book is reviewed, the reviewer is well within their rights to do whatever they wish with it.  A LOT of reviewers have a local used bookstore that will take boxes of books each  month.  These used bookstores, having bought the books legally, put them up on their Amazon and other retail marketplace pages.

I will say here what I said to my now-no-longer-letigious client.  Let it go.  A few used copies bought cheaply will only help get your book out there.  The more people who read it the better!  If you sent out 100 books, then brace yourself that 86 will be sold as used or almost new.  That is 86 more readers than you would have had.

Here is a brief run down of Stephen King’s latest marketing program for his last book from an October 2011 Wall Street Journal Article.

Mr. King and his publisher, Scribner, face an odd challenge as they unleash an elaborate marketing campaign to promote “11/22/63.” How do you rebrand one of the world’s most famous and successful living authors? Scribner is targeting history buffs with book-giveaway promotions on bio.com and history sites. To reach news junkies, the publisher bought ad time on 11 p.m. news programs in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The 30-second ad, which will also run on the CNN airport network and on the A&E and Syfy networks, shows archival footage of Kennedy’s Dallas motorcade, with a voice-over that says, “What if instead of justwatching history, you could change it?” Mr. King’s book tour will include appearances at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston and at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, the site Oswald fired from. The Dallas museum is preparing to host 1,000 people.

So what do we take away from this?

Mr. King has a huge following and decades of New York Times Best Sellers behind him.

He was on the road for weeks doing events in high-profile locations.

His publisher purchased ads on CNN, A&E the 11pm news in major markets.

Scribner also launched a multi-platform online campaign that gave away over 3000 books.

The magic number since the book released last November?  According to Bookscan, Mr. King has sold 576,361 copies across all formats.

One of the best-selling authors of all time spent over a hundred thousand dollars on marketing with his publisher and even with eBook sales included, did not reach a million copies.

What is the real magic number?

It starts with the amount of time you spend getting the package of your book right

It is followed by the number of months you spend planning and orchestrating your launch

Right behind that is the number of ads and programs you participate in.

But that last number does not count much unless the ads and programs are in top venues (USA TODAY, PEOPLE, CNN…)

Next up is the number of PR and marketing professionals you are working with.

Then is there are the amount of reviews you get

A BIG number is how many retailers are getting your marketing and PR information to convince the buyers to buy your book.

Finally, there is the elusive “tipping point” number.  How many people have to love and recommend your book before it takes on a life of its own?

So what is the answer to the question “what are the right numbers for my book?”.

It is different for everybody, but start with THOSE numbers and THEN tell the world how many you plan on selling.  If you are going to spend 20 hours and $4000 on sales and marketing, your book will not “catch fire”.  The stories of books that grow from nothing and become huge successes have enormous numbers behind them. Numbers of hours, numbers of dollars, numbers of supporters…. the ratio varies, but the totals are the same.  At least a million….

More often than not, what they “know” is old news.  Now I assume that no one reading this falls into this category, but perhaps we can pass this info onto the others…

So, once again:

1. Hardcovers no longer are the standard for “serious” books and are rarely purchased
2. POD has become more acceptable to bookstores, but you still need to print some and offer them through traditional distribution or fulfillment companies to be taken seriously by the bookstores.
3. Digital Printing has improved in quality and you do NOT need to print thousands of books.
4. There are even fewer print and online reviewers of consequence but…
5. Reviews are still KEY.  Most libraries and major book chains need professional reviews before they will consider a small press title in any real quantity.
6. Libraries and bookstores are not necessarily the best way to get to readers anymore
7. Most books are not sold in bookstores
8. eBooks have taken a much bigger portion of book sales
9. There are MORE readers now than there were a year ago THANKS to eBook readers
10. Inexpensive eBooks are the best way to get your book out to the most people and create a buzz.  It does not “cheapen the book, it gives the reader a chance to sample something they would not otherwise because of a special offer.

Call if you want clarification on any of these!  518-391-2300  or email acollins@thecadencegrp.com

Also, don’t forget that January is the second biggest month for book sales each year. More and more gift cards are being bought and those cards are mainly used in January and February. Is your book going to be easy to find come January?

At The Cadence Group, we want to help you maximize your sales, so we are offering these packages at deeply discounted rates.

Don’t miss out on these great opportunities to get your book in front of consumers during the world’s busiest shopping season!

Amazon Optimization

With holiday online shoppers at an all time high, is your Amazon page ready for the holidays? Take advantage of our Amazon Optimization program and make sure your book is easy to find at the world’s largest bookstores. We will set up your author page, tag your book with appropriate key words and link your book to other bestselling books in your category  all in time for the busiest shopping season of the year! ($995)

End of Year Book Tour

Now is a great time to get your book out to bloggers and reviewers and generate discussion on the web. For the holiday season and in celebration of the New Year, The Cadence Group is pleased to offer a holiday blog tour to our clients. What does this mean? We’ll reach out to over one hundred reviewers requesting a review of your book, guest post from you, the author, or an author interview. Our goal for this campaign is to get your book in the hands of reviewers and secure a minimum of 6 to 8 reviews or guest posts to run in late 2011 and early 2012. ($2,975)

End of Year Giveaway

Many of our bloggers host giveaways throughout the months of December and January as part of their holiday outreach. We will be pitching giveaways to a select group of reviewers in time for end of year promotions. If you would like us to include your book, let us know! ($995)

Top Independent Bookstore Campaign

Have your book sent and reviewed by the top 25 book buyers in the independent bookstore market. Books are shipping November 15th, so hurry to get your book into this very effective mailing and pitch campaign! Any books not ready for the Holiday season will be eligible for our January 10th mailing for Spring & Easter … so call now for details! ($1,175)

We are fast approaching the #1 book buying season. Are you ready?

Call or email us today to find out more about these great opportunities!

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/publishing-perils-in-the-digital-age/

It seems to me that Penguin is foolishly trying to intimidate all of their authors by making such a loud, scary fuss over Davenport’s decision. It looks like they are trying to scare the rest of their authors from ever trying to do the same thing.  I wager that they will soon see a huge backlash that will make them sorry they ever tried that.

First – GO BUY Kiana’s book!
http://www.amazon.com/HOUSE-SKIN-PRIZE-WINNING-STORIES-ebook/dp/B004EHZWJE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1319034170&sr=1-1

Second - Published authors? Go publish all of your unpublished and out of print work yourself as eBooks. Run, do not walk. Make sure that PENGUIN is the one that gets the message…. publishing is not the lofty realm of the privledged NY houses and has not been for a long time. You have the right to publish what you have created.

Time to scare the hell out of Penguin….

I’ll go on the record here:

The changes might actually be an improvement once you stop freaking out about the fact that something is different. Now we can make lists of friends and not have to wade through all the minutiae of every person who lands in that grey spot between unfriending vs. hiding vs. terribly interested.

Relax. Try it out. See what you like. Give it a few days. THEN make a solid, rational case for your opinion. “I just don’t like change” is not a position which one should state publicly. Shhhh…. go play with your new Facebook and stop cluttering my new “Top Stories”.

My thoughts on this run the gamut from “Now” to “Never”.  To be specific… there comes a time when investing money in your marketing plan no longer makes sense.  If you have hired a reputable, hard-working PR firm, if you have spent the time and money on marketing your book to your core readership, if you have made your book available through fulfillment or distribution channels… if you have done all of this for over a year and  you are still not selling books?  It is time to put away the checkbook.

BUT, it is NEVER time to put away the clock.  This book is your baby.  If you still have the time to watch Mad Men, then you have the time to participate in discussion groups, visit your local library’s book club, participate in a local author event, review other author’s books on line…. there is always something you can do with our time to get your book out there.  You never know when the “right” person will read it and it is your job to keep putting in the time to promote your book. 

Some books take years to take off.  But it won’t happen if you have given up.